A Little Fall of Rain
by mspolapotter
Summary: We all have our best friends, but how much do we care for them? A Harry Potter Two-shot inspired by Victor Hugo's character Eponine Thenardier and from the musical Les Miserables by Claude-Michael Schoenberg. WARNING: Main character death
1. In My Life

Hello everyone! This is the little Les Mis inspired 2-shot I've been working on. I hope you guys enjoy! :))

_Note:_ A Double format in the lyrics (Bold and Italic) means that it's a male part

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**Disclaimer**: Everything Harry Potter belongs to Miss Rowling, everything Les Mis to Sir Hugo, and the Les Mis lyrics and Mr. Schoenberg's

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**_A Little Fall of Rain_**

_a Harry-Hermione Fanfiction by mspolapotter inspired by Les Miserables _

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_Chapter 1:** In My Life**_

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_**November**_

It was one of those days.

Those days when Harry claims he'd given up on love. He and Hermione were at the Hog's Head. She'd accompanied him as he washed away his feelings with alcohol.

"Harry, you're gonna burn both your throat and stomach with that amount of Firewhisky," she said reproachfully.

"I don't care," he said indignantly. "It can burn up my heart too."

Hermione looked desperately as her best friend fell apart. This had to add with his problems, along with Voldemort coming back and gaining strength. He ordered another two rounds and she gulped one down. The alcohol burned a blazing trail down her throat. She closed her eyes to let the sensation pass and cleared her throat.

"What was that for?" Harry demanded.

"We're running out of time," Hermione said, her voice still a bit hoarse. "This is your last shot. You've had nearly a whole bottle."

Harry looked at her to see if she was bluffing. When she stared back at him like a scolding mother, he drank obediently.

"Good, now let's go," Hermione said.

The two of them stood up and walked through the crowd. Harry, who was nearly drunk, bumped into someone and nearly knocked her down.

"Ginny," he said, as he saw her fiery red hair. "Sorry."

She smiled tearfully and walked away. Harry stared after her and Hermione smiled. She had a feeling that he won't be lonely for long.

**_In my life, she has burst like the music of angels  
The light of the sun  
Eponine  
You're the friend who has brought me here  
Thanks to you I am one with the gods  
And Heaven is near!_**

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_**December**_

Ginny was all for getting herself drunk at the Hog's Head, but then she saw Harry and Hermione walking out. Harry'd nearly knocked her off her feet. She hoped they'd think she was crying over a boy, nothing embarrassing like whining over her dad for not letting her do certain things. It was unfair! Why wasn't she allowed any help in the revolution? Why wasn't she allowed to fight in case a battle broke out?

Just as she ordered a shot of one of the strongest mead known to wizards, she glanced at the clock. She'd spent too much time wandering through the streets that it was already time to head back to the carriages. She drank her mead in one gulp and for a while she was floating and spinning. The alcohol burned her throat. She put her payment on the counter and left.

Later that night, she locked herself in her dorm while everyone else was out studying or doing Merlin knows what. It was lucky too, because a few minutes later, emerald flames roared in their fireplace and Mr. Weasley's head appeared.

"Since when are you a member of the Order?"

_In my life  
I have all that I want  
You are loving and gentle and good  
But Papa, dear Papa,  
In your eyes I am just like a child  
Who is lost in a wood_

Hermione wearily descended from the staircase. When she saw Harry's face, she lit up immediately.

"Come on, you can help," she said, dragging him up the stairs.

Why had Ginny been crying? The obvious answer came to him immediately, assuming she was crying, once again, over a boy.

He knocked gently on her door. "Ginny? Can I come in?"

The door opened a crack and Ginny was the on the other side smiling tearfully at him.

_**A heart full of love**  
A heart full of you  
**A single look and then I knew**  
I knew it too  
**From today**  
Every day_

_For it isn't a dream  
Not a dream after all_

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_**January**_

For the next few weeks, Hermione felt alone and friendless. Ron was with Lavender constantly, and Harry with Ginny. She slapped herself mentally for conforming to Harry's wishes. Little he knew, and even less he cared.

_And now I'm all alone again  
Nowhere to turn, no one to go to  
Without a home, without a friend,  
Without a face to say hello to.  
And now the night is near  
Now I can make believe he's here._

At night while patrolling, she liked to pretend that Harry was with her. Even if she's alone, in her head, she was walking side by side with him. The shadows helped her illusion.

"Hermione," he whispered in her ear as he wrapped his arms around her. "I've lost you once. I'm never going to lose you again."

_On my own  
Pretending he's beside me  
All alone, I walk with him till morning  
Without him  
I feel his arms around me_

But she remembers he is not there.

She walks down the corridors some more, thinking of the two of them. Hermione imagines the day of his comeuppance, when he would lay down on her feet and she would play hard-to-get, which will lead to a chase worthy of a Nick Sparks movie, which ends up to a big wedding, bigger than she's ever even imagined.

He is blind, but she believes that they'll be together someday. There is a way.

_And I know it's only in my mind  
That I'm talking to myself and not to him  
And although I know that he is blind  
Still I say, there's a way for us_

A familiar song played itself in her head and soon she began dreaming again.

_I love him  
But when the night is over  
He is gone, the river's just a river  
Without him the world around me changes  
The trees are bare and everywhere  
The streets are full of strangers_

Herself and Harry, taking pictures together, arguing over some little thing, which ended with Harry apologizing to her and she forgiving him with a playful slap to his shoulder.

Her eyes opened and she immediately wiped the smile from her face as a huge gust of wind hit her. Without him, her world was bland, dull, and depressing. Living without him was impossible.

She was in love with him. So madly in love with him. She was all along, pretending that she saw him only as a friend.

Tears sprang to her eyes. He could go on without her. She was on her own in this love.

She would continue loving him. It was too hard now to stop.

_I love him  
But every day I'm learning  
All my life I've only been pretending  
Without me his world will go on turning  
A world that's full of happiness  
That I have never known!_

_I love him  
But only on my own_

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_**February**_

Ginny and Harry's relationship developed even more, much to Hermione's distaste. It gave her much reason to head for the Hog's Head on Valentine's day.

"What have you got for a girl who got her heart ripped out and stepped on by her own best friend?" Hermione asked the barman.

He stared back at her and she raised her eyebrows to let him now she was serious. The barman gulped.

"We have this new thing," he replied. "It's a Muggle drink. Really famous. Call it beer."

Hermione's face slightly lit up. It seemed funny to her that only now did wizards discover the wonders of beer.

"I'll have a pint," she said.

But she did not have just one. She was down to her third (and was already quite tipsy) when Neville and Luna spotted her.

"'Mione, what are you doing here?" Neville asked in a slightly panicky voice.

"I'm drinking my feelings," she replied in a slurry voice. "Washing away the pain. Drowning in my sorrows." Then she turned to look at him. "Basically I'm getting drunk coz of a boy."

"Who did this to you?" Luna asked. Hermione put a finger to Luna's lips.

"Now, now we mustn't get violent, Luna dear," she said. "It's not my fault Harry's not in love with me."

And in that moment, she burst into tears.

"Come on now, time to go," Neville said, helping Hermione up to her feet. Luna paid the barman and the trio walked out of the bar.

_He was never mine to lose_

"Hermione, Harry's your best friend," Neville consoled. "I'm sure he won't like seeing you like this."

_Why regret what cannot be?_

"Hermione, promise me you won't do this again," Luna scolded. "He loves you. Harry loves you."

_These are words he'll never say_

"Of course he does!" Neville agreed.

_Not to me...  
Not to me...  
Not for me..._

Hermione shook her head. Neville and Luna helped her up the carriage.

"Put her here, Nev," Luna instructed, sitting down. Neville gently put Hermione in a sitting position beside Luna. Hermione's eyes were drooping, her head was on Luna's shoulder.

"_His heart full of love_," Hermione sang in barely a whisper.

Luna and Neville looked at her sadly.

"_He will never feel this way_." Her eyes closed and she fell asleep.

Luna kissed the top of her head. Who knew it would take a single broken heart to break someone as strong as Hermione.


	2. A Little Fall of Rain

_Chapter 2:** A Little Fall of Rain**_

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_**March**_

The gap between Harry and Hermione grew when he'd learned about her getting drunk and she refusing to talk to him. He couldn't dwell on this problem for too long. Voldemort had gained full strength. They needed to prepare Hogwarts.

A fight was breaking out soon.

_**May**_

Voldemort had warned them through Harry of the attack. It had been raining, but they had to put up with it to create a barricade that would protect Hogwarts.

While he was overseeing the protection from within Hogwarts, he heard a noise from outside. He ran to see what was happening.

"Someone's climbing the barricade," Dean informed him. Some wand were already poised to attack, but Harry stopped them.

"_Homenum Revelio!_" The barricade revealed Hermione struggling up the barricade to get to the other side. Harry immediately climbed up the barricade to help her.

When they were both on safe ground, Hermione spoke.

"They're getting ready to attack," she said breathlessly, hugging her coat to her body.

"Hermione what were you doing outside?" Harry demanded. He couldn't help being angry. How dare she risk her life without his permission? He was so worried for her.

**_Eponine, what's wrong? I feel..._**  
**_There's something wet upon your hair_**

**_Eponine, you're hurt  
You need some help!  
Oh God, it's everywhere_**

"I sneaked out to Hogsmeade," Hermione said, still breathless and gripping the coat tighter. "They have fifty men for the first line of defense."

"Hermione, I really appreciate what you're doing but—"

"Harry," Hermione gasped.

"You could have been stunned or _killed_ out there!" He gripped her shoulders tightly.

"Harry," she gasped again, firmer this time.

"I—I don't think I can stand anymore." And in that moment she collapsed in his arms.

"Hermione what's wrong?" Harry asked. Dean and Seamus helped support her and together they brought her to the Great Hall. Her breath was ragged and her trying to steady it only showed how shallow it really was. "What's wrong? Tell me, please." He caressed her head and felt something wet. "Hermione why—?"

His hands were bloody.

Harry ripped open her coat and saw that her clothes were drenched in blood.

"Hermione, you're hurt—"

"Stop worrying, Harry," Hermione said, closing her coat. "Nothing hurts. It's just rain."

"Hermione, it's blood—"

"Stop worrying," she said again. "I'm okay. I'll be okay as long as you're here."

Her words pierced his heart. "No, Hermione. Madam Pomfrey can do this—"

"Madam Pomfrey is too busy and it would be a waste of potion," Hermione said. "You need it more than I do. Just…stay with me, okay? Try to make it as painless as possible."

_Don't you fret, M'sieur Marius  
I don't feel any pain  
A little fall of rain  
Can hardly hurt me now  
You're here, that's all I need to know  
And you will keep me safe  
And you will keep me close  
And rain will make the flowers grow._

Harry continued to shake his head in denial and changed his position so that Hermione lay against his body. He smoothed her hair and wiped away the blood.

"You'll live, Hermione," he said. "You're going to live. I love you, I love you so much."

Hermione smiled. How ironic, her wishes were coming true only as she was dying.

"I'm not going to leave you," he continued.

**_But you will live, 'Ponine - dear God above,_**  
**_If I could heal your wounds with words of love._**

_Just hold me now, and let it be._  
_Shelter me, comfort me_

**_You would live a hundred years_**  
**_If I could show you how_**  
**_I won't desert you now..._**

"I know you won't," she breathed. "It's nice, you know. The weather."

Harry laughed. She was hurt, and she was talking about something as fickle as the weather.

"Yeah, it's quite nice," he agreed.

_So don't you fret, M'sieur Marius **(Hush-a-bye, dear Eponine)**  
I don't feel any pain **(You won't feel any pain)**  
A little fall of rain, can hardly hurt me now **(A little fall of rain, can hardly hurt you now)**  
**I'm here**  
That's all I need to know  
And you will keep me safe **(I'll stay with you)**  
And you will keep me close** ('Til you are sleeping)**  
And rain…  
And rain  
Will make the flowers…  
Will make the flowers  
Grow_

"Remember the flowerbed down the lake?" she breathed. The rain would be good for it. Make the flowers grow." She winced.

"I'm here, I'm here," Harry chanted, hugging her and rocking her back and forth gently.

"That's all I need to know," she said, smiling. "Harry?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Hermione smiled. "I'm okay. You're here," she said. "You'll keep me safe. You'll keep me close. The rain will make the flowers grow. I'll sleep in your arms at last."

She looked up at Harry and smiled. Harry moved closer to place a kiss on her lips.

And in that moment, the Fates cut the thread of Hermione's life. Her limbs limped. Her eyes shut. Her heart stopped.

"'M-Mione?" Harry said in a broken voice. "'Mione, wake up." He shook her lightly. "'Mione, please wake up." She continued to lay unmoving. Harry began weeping.

"Hermione," he breathed. "Hermione, no!"

He held her lifeless form to his body and wept as the rain continued to pour.

And a flower started to bloom in their flowerbed by the lake.

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So there! Thanks for reading! Please review :)


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